This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7xc2xa7 119 and/or 365 to 9800373-4 filed in Sweden on Feb. 10, 1998; the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The present invention relates generally to mobile telephone apparatuses and more specifically to an arrangement in connection with a pivotable protective hatch or flip for a mobile telephone, said flip being arranged to physically cover at least parts of a keypad thereon for inter alia preventing inadvertent keypad commands.
Mobile telephones provided with such a flip or a hatch, for covering a key pad thereon, have been used by certain manufacturers for some years. The main purpose with such a flipxe2x80x94being to protect said keypad from inadvertent manipulationxe2x80x94has by other manufacturers been tackled electronically through the use of key pad locks, being initiated by inserting a certain code by using the keypad.
In some applications, such as according to EP-A2-492747, such flips have been used also as a stand for placing the telephone in an upright position e.g. on a table, thereby making it easier to observe.
Another application of such a flip has been to protect a display unit on such a telephone from becoming scratched and worn when carried in for example a pocket. According to JP-A-5 030 166 the flip is either partially transparent or provided with a window in order to provide for this function.
Hitherto, however, flips on mobile telephones have generally been arranged for the protection of the keypad. In some cases such flips have been made available in more fashionable customized versions. The main reason for the success with such customized versions has probably been that a customized version is easier to recognize as your own together with other mobile telephones of an equally looking kind lying on e.g. a conference table.
In order to achieve an industrial applicability from such customization, the number of articles that has to be produced in each batch of a kind of customized version has to be large. Thus, the above mentioned recognition problem remains.
To obtain a customization, also different kinds of stickers have been suggested. Stickers are however messy in that they require an absolutely clean surface in order to stick where they are initially applied. Even if correctly applied, the appearance of such stickers becomes less attractive due to wear as time goes by. Consequently this is not a solution that is very suitable in the long run.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a mobile telephone apparatus with improved means for customization as well as with means for presentation of specific, personal or otherwise necessary information to get maximum performance from available functions within the telephone itself or the net that it is connected to.
To meet this object a flip of a mobile telephone apparatus comprises means at its rear side, i.e. the side that in a closed state thereof is located closest to the keypad, permitting a protected attachment or arrangement of personal customization, such as paintings, sticky or nonsticky labels or cards thereat. Such customization might in the closed state of said flip, due to a possible at least partly transparency thereof, be visible from the outside of the flip.
To increase the durability of the customization as such when the telephone is frequently used, especially when it is constituted by a painting or a sticky label, the flip may comprise two main parts. One of these parts is the one visible to the user of the telephone when the flip is closed, the other is the one visible after opening the flip and looking in the direction of the keypad. At least one of said parts is at least partly transparent and is detachable, at least when the flip initially is brought into use.
Users of mobile telephone services today have all kinds of possibilities available within the realm of a telephone subscription. In order to make use of these possibilities, these people, however, normally have to remember different kinds of code combinations by, making use of amongst others the well known signs * and #. Bearing in mind that people today have to remember all kinds of other such codes to gain access to different services in society, the present invention is a relief in that it presents means for making it possible to, conveniently add personal information at the rear side of the flip that might lower the stress level of these people. The details of this advantage will be discussed more in detail below.